It’s this type of love that has led people to stay in abusive relationships (which I’m not excusing, just explaining.

I’m saying all that to say this. If you find yourself challenged by loving someone that you don’t understand, remember this…

You don’t have to understand someone to love them.

And, also remember that when we hurt the ones we love, it doesn’t mean we don’t love them. I just means our love isn’t perfect.

Notice the behavior of perfect love as God so eloquently describes through the Apostle Paul…1 Corinthians 13 (NKJV)

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift ofprophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body [a]to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not[b]puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, [c]thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there areprophecies, they will fail; whether there aretongues, they will cease; whether there isknowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is [d]perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

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Written on 14 Aug 2018

We all make them sometimes…bad decisions. Some of those decisions are sin, but some aren’t.

We make bad decisions in our…

Finances…

Relationships…

Careers…

Choices with our education…

Raising our children…

Diets, health and how we manage our bodies…

How we take care of what God has given us…

…Which way to turn at a crossroads in our lives.

What’s a bad decision that you have made, that may not necessarily be a sin, but you can clearly see that you and possibly the one’s you love are living out the consequences of that decision?

Yes, you’ve learned the lesson, and now you’re just trying to navigate your way through the ditch you have dug for yourself until you can find a place to crawl out.

Well, God told us that we can ask whatever we desire in His name and He will answer according to His will…1 John 5:14 (NKJV)14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

John 15:7-8 (NKJV)

7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you[a] will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

We also know that God is a deliverer, with a bible full of examples of Him delivering, and snatching His people out from the consequences of their sin and bad decisions…

Psalm 34:17 (NKJV)

17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,And delivers them out of all their troubles.

The fact is that some of our bad decisions are made out of our own human weaknesses. God made us all, which means He gave us both our strengths and our weaknesses.

We sometimes make mistakes and choose unwisely, even after we pray for guidance, and there are always lessons to be learned.

So, this short prayer is for those times you find yourself living out the consequences of a bad decision, and you have learned your lesson.

It’s a short prayer for two of God’s greatest benefits…mercy and deliverance.

“Our heavenly Father as I present myself to you right now please accept me in the name of our Risen Savior, Yeshua, the anointed One, Jesus Christ.

Thank you for your unfailing love and faithfulness, even when my love fails and I’m unfaithful.

I also thank you for the abundant blessing of more than enough for today.

Now, I come to you with a specific request…

Please have mercy on me and forgive me from all my sins, blot out all my transgressions, and cleanse me from all my unrighteousness. I’m so sorry for hurting you, and sometimes putting you to open shame.

Please Father, grant me wisdom from my mistakes, and please deliver me from the consequences of my bad decisions, if it be your holy will.

Please snatch me out of this painful place, bring glory to your name through my life, and anoint me to walk in the anointing, authority, influence and victory You’ve ordained for my life as a testimony of my love for You and trust in You.

I ask this specific prayer in the Name and Authority of Your Son and My Saviour, the Lamb of God, Yeshua, Christ Jesus.

Amen.”

Yes, sometimes we must live out the consequences and lie in the bed we’ve made. But, sometimes God will come and snatch us out of that bed, if we ask.

Psalm 130 (NKJV)

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord;2 Lord, hear my voice!Let Your ears be attentiveTo the voice of my supplications.

3 If You, Lord, should [a]mark iniquities,O Lord, who could stand?4 But there is forgiveness with You,That You may be feared.

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,And in His word I do hope.6 My soul waits for the LordMore than those who watch for the morning—Yes, more than those who watch for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord;For with the Lord there is mercy,And with Him is abundant redemption.8 And He shall redeem IsraelFrom all his iniquities.

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Written on 13 Aug 2018

People love clichés. A well-placed cliché makes conversations, speeches and even sermons more interesting. One very popular cliché used when people have misfortune is or difficulty is, “When life gives you lemons make lemonade”. BUT WHAT IF YOU DON’T HAVE ANY SUGAR? What if you have a health condition that doesn’t allow you to have […]

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Written on 12 Aug 2018

Have you ever gone through a season in your life that, yes, you were praying. You were even praying regularly, but if you’re honest with yourself it was more…

ritual than relationship.

You would quickly get out of your bed, (or on your bed) and rush through a quick prayer, maybe even the same prayer, every morning or evening just to say, “I prayed”.

If you’re like me, when I was little, I was taught that you could also quote a ‘verse’ rather than bless your food…so I would quickly blurt out “Jesus wept” so I could begin eating.

Now, I’m not saying prayers have to be long, but they must always be meaningful. If we truly take our privilege of having direct access to God through our risen Savior Yeshua, Christ Jesus, then we would make the most of it every time…

Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV)

16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

After all, we want all of our conversations with those who are important to us to be meaningful. We want that time to be quality time…and God is no different.

Written on 11 Aug 2018

One of the things that reminds me that our bodies and our flesh are temporary is when we stink. As good as you may smell right now, think of the effort we as humans have to put into avoiding smelling bad.

We have to bathe regularly…

Brush and floss our teeth…

Shampoo our hair…

Apply deodorants…

Perfumes…

Colognes…

We as humans have to work at smelling good. Whether we admit it or not, we all smell bad sometimes.

Sometimes if we have been working hard…been sick…or whatever, we can begin to smell unpleasant…YOU STINK.

Have you ever been in need of ‘freshening up’ and were actually able to smell yourself?

You may have raised up your arm, caught a whiff of your own breath…or whatever and said to yourself , “Wow! I stink!”

What’s interesting is that if you don’t get an opportunity to bathe soon, you won’t notice the odor anymore…you’ve gotten used to your own stench.

BUT, even though you CAN’T smell it, everyone else still CAN.

Our sin STINKS to God.

Isaiah 65:5 (NLT)

5 Yet they say to each other, ‘Don’t come too close or you will defile me! I am holier than you!’ These people are a stench in my nostrils, an acrid smell that never goes away.

Just as we all have to work to avoid smelling bad, we have to all work to avoid sinning.

Just as our bodies can smell bad, our spirits ‘smell bad’ when they are consumed with the works of the flesh, or sin…

Galatians 5:19-21 (NKJV)

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

If we aren’t careful, we can become complacent in sin…bad habits…bad attitudes…inappropriate lifestyles…behavior that’s displeasing to God.

We can become complacent and comfortable to the point that we begin excusing, justifying or ignoring where we are wrong…

WE CAN’T SMELL OURSELVES STINK ANYMORE…

But others can still smell us…

AND, God can still smell us!

Have you ever gotten caught up in sin to the point that you began to…

Accept it?

Become comfortable in it?

Tell yourself, “It doesn’t matter anymore”?

Feel you couldn’t come back from it?

Say to yourself, “Why try to do better?

YOU COULDN’T SMELL YOURSELF STINK ANYMORE!

The bible tells us to cleanse ourselves of what defiles our body and spirit…

2 Corinthians 7:1 (NKJV)

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

1 John 1:9 (NKJV)

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

2 Corinthians 7:10 (NKJV)

10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

We have to recognize what IS sin…by reading God’s word from His perspective.

We have to acknowledge our sin…admit to ourselves that we are hurting God.

We have to regret our sin…if we are still proud of what we’ve done there is no forgiveness.

We have to repent of our sin…we have to ‘turn around’ and not put ourselves in situations to be tempted by our weaknesses.

Even though sin stinks to God, He has made it clear to us what makes us ‘smell good’ Him…

ACCEPTING HIS SON, THE LIVING WORD, AS OUR RISEN SAVIOR…

2 Corinthians 2:15 (NKJV)

For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

WASHING OURSELVES IN HIS WORD…

Ephesians 5:25-26

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,

WALK IN LOVE…

(Read 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 to learn how love behaves)

Ephesians 5:2 (NKJV)

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

WALKING DAILY IN THE FRUIT OF HIS SPIRIT

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Remember…we have to work to avoid smelling bad…EVERY DAY!

Put effort into making sure your spirit smells good to God…EVERY DAY!

Don’t get to the point that you can’t smell yourself stink anymore.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

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Written on 11 Aug 2018

Isn’t amazing how people give coaches a pass? They don’t want the teacher or police to ‘curse’ at their children, even if they are disruptive. They don’t even want the preacher to speak too ‘harshly’ to or of their children – but the let the coach say what he or she wants and how he or she wants. Some will even let a coach hit their children…hit not spank.

Have you ever heard anyone say they had to talk to someone ‘on their level’ to reach them, especially when they are disruptive or have harsh speech themselves.

God says very clearly that we are not to allow corrupt communication to come out of our mouths…

This applies to coaches too!

Ephesians 4:29 (NKJV)

29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

He clearly tells us that we aren’t to swear (an oath) or to curse ( cursing is pronouncing condemnation)…

Matthew 5:37 (NKJV)

37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.

That means it’s sin to say “Hell yes!” or “Hell no!”. Jesus says that “anything more is from the evil one”.

To reason that it takes profanity or cursing to get the best out of someone is to imply that it takes ‘the evil one’ rather than God to do that. Why do people trust their children to language straight from the devil. In other words, we are saying God can’t handle it, but the devil can. God forbid!

Some say it prepares them for the real world or competition. I say that teaching them how to get the best out of you according to God’s will prepares them to be light in the real world. Remember, God is sending us out like sheep among wolves…that’s how He prepares us.

Matthew 10:16 (NKJV)

16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

There is no game, competition or battle on earth than the one Jesus endured on the cross. There was no profanity and cursing in preparation for that…only submission and humility.

If I don’t curse or use profanity to get the best out of my children, I’m not going to allow a man or woman to do so when it’s within my power.

Giving a coach the thumbs up to curse out or belittle your child is another way that a parent can provoke their children to wrath.

Allowing a coach to curse your children is cursing your children…

Ephesians 6:4 (NKJV)

4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

There are plenty of coaches out there are very effective and do it the right way. But to those who don’t…God will hold them accountable and hold the parents accountable for allowing it.

Just because our culture has normalized this behavior as acceptable doesn’t make it right. Trust God’s word and not the ‘devil’s words’ with your children.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

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Written on 10 Aug 2018

There was a time when God’s name was referenced more. We need to be careful how we refer to God casually and not in reverence…how we let what is meant to be praise be reduced to idle words. Look at what Jesus said about idle words…

Matthew 12:36-37(NKJV)

36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

We must make sure that we never play with His praise. Many movies, plays and songs, have turned what is meant to be sincere praise into a joke, or cliché…